The Best Gluten-free Vegan Cinnamon Roll

I know that some of you are afraid of using and proofing yeast and tend to avoid it but today I am going to hold your hand through this. Here’s my logic: If you are afraid of yeast then you can’t make today’s incredibly awesome recipe…and believe me when I say that this is the BEST gluten-free vegan cinnamon roll you will taste. Deep breath. (Side note: I know some of you can’t consume yeast so I got your back too–use this recipe instead)

There really is no big trick to yeast. Like most things, once you try it your fears will immediately wear off and you’ll become a yeast pro. I’m actually writing a more detailed post discussing this issue but in the meantime, I’ve got your hand, friend. Here, take a look at these to motivate you:

Feeling better? Good.

So when you are heating your water and nondairy milk to “proof” your yeast in this recipe (which is just a baker’s fancy way of saying “making sure your yeast is still good”), simply place it in the microwave for about 25 seconds. You want this to be lukewarm so if you’d like, you can always stop the time at any point and check to make sure it isn’t getting too hot. All you have to do is stick your (clean) finger in the middle of the microwave-safe measuring cup and make sure the liquid is lightly warmed. That’s it. No need for thermometers (but if it makes you feel better, use one to measure your liquid to 100*F/38*C). Take your yeast, in this case it is 2 1/4 teaspoons’ (7 g) worth, whisk it around with a fork until nicely mixed in there and walk away.

No seriously. Walk away and watch “The Wendy Williams Show,” doodle, paint your nails, go on a brisk walk, or learn how to juggle. Just for 10 minutes though. When you return you will find that your yeast will have frothed up like a beer poured out of a tap. Mmmmmm beer. That’s it! You have just ensured that your yeast is “active” and you are good to go! If it doesn’t froth up then your yeast is either bad (check the expiration date) or your liquid was too hot/cold. Rinse, repeat and try again. No fears, you have cinnamon rolls to make missy!

Dry ingredients:

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. granulated sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

2 Tbsp. vegan butter, melted

Icing:

2 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. coconut oil (or omit)

1 Tbsp. hot water

1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Warm up your nondairy milk and water together until lukewarm or at 100*F/38*C. Whisk in your yeast and allow to froth up for 10 minutes. Add the chia seeds, pysllium, butter and vinegar. Whisk together and set aside so it can thicken a little.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Dump the wet ingredients into the middle of the flour mix and stir with a wooden spoon. Your dough will begin to look scrappy. That is A-Okay. When this begins to happen, ditch the wooden spoon and start kneading the dough in the bowl with your hands. That’s right, you heard me correctly. Get those hands dirty! Play with the dough until it gets manageable and somewhat smooth. See the pictures below as to what the dough will look like.

Roll out on your counter under a piece of parchment paper. This dough shouldn’t be too sticky where you have to use another piece of paper to roll out. Roll into a large rectangle–not too thin however, thicker than 1/4″/3 mm though. Combine the sugar filling in a small bowl and dump on top of the dough.

Tightly roll the dough up (use the parchment paper to guide you if you need).Trim the edges and slice in half. Then slice those halves in half until you have eight pieces.

Grease a pan of choice and place the rolls inside, cut-side up. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm, non-drafty space in your kitchen. These should rise enough to be touching each other in the pan now. They will not, however, double in size.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the edges have firmed up. Place the pan on a wire rack to briefly cool down.

Whisk together the icing–you want this thick so if it’s runny, use more sugar (or if it’s too thick to mix, add a teaspoon of hot water at a time). Pour over the cinnamon rolls.

Notes

1. Tastes best when eaten warm and straight out of the oven.2. Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for 3 days.3. The dough can be made ahead of time. Simply place in fridge during the rise time and allow to sit overnight. Baking time might need to be longer.

Did you make this recipe?

A tutorial photo shoot of the cinnamon roll-making process just for you:

If you want to you use your own blend or mix up the flours, feel free to do so–always understand that your results might be different and the weight conversion will be different. Nothing is guaranteed in this crazy world of gluten-free vegan baking. Need help with substitutions? Check out this: Guide to Gluten-Free Flours.

I also thought it would be humorous to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the process of what happens when I take photos of the food I share here. While you are seeing this:

Reader Interactions

Comments

In the beginning I had a hard time proofing the yeast. On the third try I added a 1/2 tsp of sugar and finally was able to get it to proof. Aside from that I followed the recipe to a T and it turned out great! Tastes exactly how I remember cinnamon rolls tasting and the texture is spot on! As far as storage I was wondering if the baked cinnamon rolls would be able to be stored in the freezer. Have you had any luck with that? Because as good as they are, I don’t think I will be able to finish them all before they go bad

This recipe looks great, but I don’t have easy access to psyllium husk, however I do have the VeganEgg made by follow your heart. Do you think I could use instead of the psyllium husk and chia seeds? And if so, how much should I use?

That I cannot answer, sorry Sarina. The VeganEgg is an egg replacer and the psyllium husk is more on a gum replacer. They have 2 different functions. You can try just using the equivalent of 1 egg with the VeganEgg but I’ve never used it before so I cannot guarantee it. Try it and let me know what happens. Good luck!

That should work! Anytime I use a different flour mix than listed, I always hold off 1/4 c. flour and add more at the end if it’s still too sticky. You just never know since different gf flours absorb liquids differently 🙂

Either could be a good sub, however because they are different flours then what the recipe calls for, maybe hold back on 1/4 c. of flour and add at the end if needed. Sometimes the way the different gf flours absorb liquids require more or less in a recipe, does that make sense?

I made these for Christmas morning and they were delicious! My husband and two kids eat gluten but I cannot and I am determined to find recipes that please us all. These fit the bill! I made the rolls the night before and left them in the fridge overnight. I let them sit out room temp for a couple hours before I baked them and they turned out perfect. Thank you!

Just FYI for everyone trying this recipe… Psyllium powder is a MUST. It is a fiber that soaks up liquid. Flax cannot do this. Chia can, but it doesn’t have the laxity and bounce of final product like psyllium.
I had great results but I omitted 1/2 cup flour…and I used a bit of coconut, tapioca, oat and garbonzo flour along with ‘ heritage blend ‘ in my mix. I also used about 1 1/2 TBS each of the chia and psyllium.

I can’t believe I’ve found your site! I’m gluten-free trying to eat more plantbased and your guide to gluten-free flours already is a baking-life saver! But then I stumbled over your cinnamon rolls. I’m craving those for ages now but never made them work gluten-free. So thank you so much for ending my cravings! Can’t wait to try them out as a Sunday treat. Again thank you a lot I will now read your blog for the rest of the day 🙂Healthy for The Lazy | Instagram

Very interesting reipce. I’m always trying new things and my daughter might get a kick out of trying this reipce. Do you eat something special with this type of bread or just alone? I’ll have to let you know how it comes out. I found your blog in Top Mommy Blogs. I’ll definitely follow and see what new things are happening in Cuddles and Bubbles. If you get a chance, check out my blog at makeitorfixit.com and feel free to follow.

these cinnamon rolls look delicious, however, when I made them today, the dough was extremely sticky. so sticky that I couldn’t even handle it properly. I had to add more flour just to roll it. I grounded up the chia seeds and I used ground flax. I followed this recipe to the T, and the dough just wasn’t right. I will try again and i’ll add a half cup more of flour. When rolling my dough, I was so disappointed because they didn’t come out as thick as your pictures. I have the cut up rolls resting right now. Hopefully they still taste good.

Wow, these are scrumptious! And I cannot believe how easy they are to make. Compared to the ones I tried in my pre-vegan days, these are so quick and far more tasty. I have to say, though, that I doubled the amount of yeast, since I got that advice from a professional baker once and have gotten used to that little trick…
I’ll also try the dough for sticky pecan buns. Yumm!
Thanks for the great recipe!

These turned out better than my old wheat based recipe – I can’t believe how good these are, seriously. I subbed coconut oil for butter and used coconut Palm sugar just to make it a tad healthier and it still came out awesome!

hi! This looks really good, and possibly perfect for my friend who’s allergic to everything. However, he doesn’t do seeds, but can do eggs. How would you substitute eggs back into this, and possibly eliminate the chia and psyllium?

Holy goodness, I see these in my very near future, like this weekend in mass quantity with lots of coffee!! I haven’t had a cinnamon roll since having to switch to gluten free over six years ago. I’m egg free now too, so these look perfect! Can’t wait to try them. Thank you!!!

I made these and they are delicious! The first time I made them with the icing sugar frosting but found the icing just too sweet. The next time I used cream cheese frosting – LOVE. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!

Just so you know, men bake too. Its a little silly to assume only women are reading your website. Maybe leave out the parts that address the reader as “Missy”? I, for one, have a few extra “ingredients” that make me not much of a Missy.
Regardless, im excited to try this recipe.

I can’t even handle how amazing these are and although I’m not proud of it, I can honestly say I ate 3 rolls right away. Worth it going down, not so much after 20 minutes. I have to pace myself with how often I make these now, and whether I double the batch or not! But I’m attending a farmers market on Wednesday and am making these to bring and wow my friends 🙂 Can not wait. Hopefully there’s enough left for everybody else! thank you so so much <3 xoxoxoxo

Cara, these are ah-maze-ing. I saw a recipe for sticky buns that were inspired by an “old fashioned” – the cocktail 🙂 and I knew I could count on this roll base to make it. I try to make things without refined sugar, so for the dry ingredients I used coconut palm sugar. Then for the cinnamon filling I pureed medjool dates with almond milk and a bit of maple syrup and salt (and some bourbon/bitters), and for the top did the same mix but added pecans.

I have to say, this bread base is PERFECT. They are so good that to keep my self from eating all of them within 24 hours I had to bring the rest to work!

Thanks for the great recipes, I appreciate how simple they are compared to other gf/vegan recipes, and how easy it is to adapt them to other dietary needs.

Do you think this recipe would work with almond flour or some other kind of grain free flour? I have celiac but I also react to other grains so I can’t eat them either 🙁 Would love to try this recipe though! And if I did swap with almond flour, do you think I could sub it cup4cup or do you think I’d need to change the amount I use in it (I’m still learning this grain free baking thing… I thought I had the gluten free baking thing down pretty well and then I develop other allergies! sigh)
haha thanks!

Hi Annmarie! Oof, I honestly don’t see that almond flour can work as the complete substitute for this recipe just because it is such a dense flour, it really needs eggs when you are using that amount. I wish I could be more of a help but the truth is that this is unchartered territory for me. I will look around and see if I can find any more info for you…xo!

Great recipe! We are new to gluten free. My son was diagnosed with celiac disease and although I put him on gluten free, my family still ate the same old “crap” ((sorry for the language, but that’s the only way I see gluten now)). Well, as I said, I’m new to this so do I need to use xantham gum if I’m using a store bought all purpose flour that does not already contain it? I can’t wait to make these!!!

Welcome to the gluten-free train! 😉 No apologies for saying crap or being new to all of this. You are in a crap and newbie-welcoming zone. To answer your question, yes, if your store-bought all-purpose flour does not have xanthan gum in it, you will need to add it to your recipes that call for it. I hope that helps! Oh, and check out this post for more gluten-free flour help if you haven’t already:http://www.forkandbeans.com/2013/12/30/guide-gluten-free-flours/

I substituted several ingredients and it turned out great. I love the chia/flax gel!
I used kefir instead of soy milk, and grass-fed butter. Then I added 2 eggs and added some almond meal to compensate for the extra liquid. I also added 2t xanthan gum to the dough, and chopped pecans to the filling–yum!

Wow! You weren’t kidding when you said “Best Gluten-free Vegan Cinnamon Roll”! These are amazing. I’ve made a couple recipes in the past, but none of them were that impressive. This one is a winner. Thanks!

You can definitely give it a shot Katie! It should be rather similar, however just know that I haven’t tried it yet so I am not 100% certain the measurements will be on point with regular flour. Then again, I’m ALL for experimentation! Let me know if it works, I’d love to hear back. xo

I just made these, this is a great recipe! I was happy to find that the dough was very easy to work with. It didn’t crumble or tear or stick. It was fun to make. Some alterations I did included using coconut oil instead of vegan butter. And for the filling I made a poppy seed spread (like what is found in Polish and Hungarian poppy seed rolls and cookies). I didn’t use the icing, I thought the dough and filling were flavorful enough. I want to make this again and try a cinnamon, nut, and dried fruit filling. And I’d like to see if it would be good to add cinnamon or coconut or something else to the dough just for an experiment on flavors. Thank you for posting this recipe!

Ok, these are siting on the oven rising (hopefully=). is the dough something that i could make ahead and refrigerate? Or could i freeze the unbaked cinnamon rolls for future use? I’m a year into the gluten free baking and i still have no clue what i’m doing haha

Cara, I am A) Drooling and wanting to shove them all in my mouth immediately and B) really wanting to make asap, BUT I have high food allergies to both Bakers and Brewers yeast! Big sad face. Do you have any magical ideas/substitutes for the yeast? Pah-leeezzz say yes and send me your wisdom>>>yes, I have been up too long today and too much caffeine. Thank you, Heather

Trackbacks

[…] really enjoy it when my friends send me recipes. My friend Kate came across this recipe for gluten-free (and vegan) cinnamon rolls. I really enjoyed the bagels that I made from a recipe from Fork and Beans, so I was happy to try […]

[…] really enjoy it when my friends send me recipes. My friend Kate came across this recipe for gluten-free (and vegan) cinnamon rolls. I really enjoyed the bagels that I made from a recipe from Fork and Beans, so I was happy to try […]